Author Topic: Author! Author!  (Read 360792 times)

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1360 on: December 11, 2010, 07:03:30 PM »


Welcome to Author! Author!  

This is a game in which the contestants match their wits with a  challenger, who suggests a character in literature, non- fiction or fiction. The challenger may or may not provide more clues, his prerogative,, and never more than one a day.


Once a day the challenger will say if the guesses are correct or not. The winning contestant gets lots of acclaim and the chance to pose the next challenge. If he does not want to post a new challenge he can say so and whoever does can begin a new game.

Of course you could look these up on google in an instant, what challenge is that? The  idea is to rack one's brain to try to remember where this particular character appeared and who wrote about him/ her. Should be great fun.

The challenger also has the option not to mention the name of the character, but only a description.


Authors used so far:

Author, Book, Character, Challenger, Post#

Anonymous, Beowulf, Beowulf, PatH, #1301
Atwood, Margaret, The Blind Assassin, Gumtree, #277
Austen, Jane, Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennett, #158
Baum, L. Frank, The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, JoanK, #342
Blackmore, Richard, Lorna Doone, Lorna Doone, Frybabe, #462
Bronte, Emily, Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff, Gumtree, #252
Buchan, John, 39 steps, Richard Hannay, PatH, #396
Carroll, Louis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Alice, JoanK, # 426
Cervantes, Don Quijote, Don Quijote, PatH, #701
Christie, Agatha, Hastings, JoanK, # 127
Christie, Agatha, Death on the Nile, Hercule Poirot, JoanK, #752
Clancy, Tom, Hunt for Red October, Frybabe, #553
Coetzee, J. M., Disgrace, David Little, Straudetwo, #1336
Collins, Wilkie, The Moonstone, Rachel Verinder, PatH, #311
Conrad, Joseph, Heart of Darkness, Marlow, Gumtree, #226
Conroy, Pat, The Great Santini, Conroy's father, JudeS #1319
Cronin, A. J., The Citadel, Andrew Manson, JudeS, #1085
Dostoevsky, Fyodor, Crime and Punishment, Roskolnikov, JudeS, #1209, 1213
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, Study in Scarlet, Dr. Watson, PatH, #380
Dumas, Alexandre pere, The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, PatH, #939, 941
Eliot, George, Daniel Deronda, Gumtree, #190
Eliot, T. S., Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, Bustopher Jones, PatH, #110
Essex, Karen, Leonardo's Swans, Isabella d'Este, Mippy, #591
Galsworthy, John, The Forsyte Saga, Irene, PatH, #615,620
George, Elizabeth, Lynley and Havers, Tomereader1, #168
Gilbert, W. S., The Savoy Operas, Frederick, or the Pirate King, #1108, 1111, 1112
Goodman, Carol, The Night Villa, the slave girl, Gumtree, # 1165
Greene, Graham, The Third Man, Holly Martins, PatH, ##1175, 1179
Grey, Zane, Riders of the Purple Sage, Frybabe, #294, 299
Henry, O. Mammon and the Archer, Anthony Rockwall, Ginny  #537
James, Henry, Washington Square, straudetwo, #981, 982
James, Henry, Wings of a Dove, Kidsal, #83
Keller, Helen, The Story of my Life, Anne Sullivan, JoanK #958
Lagerlof, Selma, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils, Nils Holgersson, JudeS #899
Lamb, Charles and Mary, Tales From Shakespeare, Macbeth, JoanK, #1301
LeFanu, Sheridan, Carmilla, roshanarose, #769
McCourt, Frank, Angela's Ashes, Frank McCourt, JoanK, #1062
Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick, the whale, PatH, #482
Miller,Arthur, Death of a Salesman, Gumtree, #1005, 1006
Milton, John, Paradise Lost, Frybabe, #413
Mitford, Nancy, roshanarose, #839, 840
Murdoch, Iris, The Sea, the Sea, Charles Arrowby, straudetwo, #1197, 1198
Nabokov, Vladimir, Lolita, Lolita, JudeS, #1124
O’Brian, Patrick, Master and Commander, Jack Aubrey, JudeS, #319
Orwell, George, Frybabe, #97
Peterson, Roger Tory, Field guide to the Eastern Birds, Mockingbird, JoanK #202
Plutarch, ----, Themistocles, roshanarose, #1025, 1027
Rand, Ayn, We the Living, Frybabe, #498, 502
Rhys, Jean, Wide Sargasso Sea, Jane Eyre, straudetwo, #1230
Scott, Sir Walter, Ivanhoe, Ginny, #602
Shelley, Mary, Frankenstein, the monster, PatH, #451
Smith, Alexander McCall, Mma Ramotswe, JudeS, #145
Smith, Alexander McCall, 44Scotland Street, Cyril, rosemarykaye, #1238, 1243
Spark, Muriel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Miss Brodie, Gumtree, #671, 672
Steinbeck , John, Journal of a Novel, Gumtree, #53, 60
Stoker, Bram, Dracula, Jonathan Harker, JudeS, #631, 632
Stone, Irving, Depths of Glory, Camille Pisarro, Gumtree, #802
Tolkien, J. R. R., Lord of the Rings, Frodo, PatH, #238, 241
Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace, Pierre Bezukhov, PatH, #1267
Trollope, Joanna, The Best of Friends, Sophie, Mippy, #218
Tyler, Anne, Digging to America, Maryam Yazdan,Mippy, #735
Vreeland, Susan, The Forest Lover, Emily Carr, Mippy, #364
Weir, Alison, Innocent Traitor, Lady Jane Gray, roshanrose, #883
Wethers, Beck, Left for Dead, Ginny, #29
Windsor, Kathleen, Forever Amber, Amber, Traude, #927, 928
Wodehouse, P. G., Bertie Wooster, PatH, #1046, 1048
Woolfe, Virginia, Orlando, Orlando, PatH, #1141
Xenophon, Frybabe, #173
Zola, Emile, Germinal, Etienne Lentier, Gumtree, #1352


Only the latest heading is up to date.

















PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1361 on: December 11, 2010, 07:06:46 PM »
Are you saying you're not miserable enough, PAT? I can help you with that.
Oh, that's all right, please don't bother.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1362 on: December 11, 2010, 11:12:54 PM »
Joan.  You are so cheeky to your sister.

I sent an offer of cricket lessons to you.  To the email in your profile.  Or was I dreaming?
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1363 on: December 12, 2010, 12:12:14 AM »
And speaking of cricket - After the Aussies lost the last test I idly commented that the selectors should bring back Shane Warne - now the idea is being touted in every newspaper - and maybe they should - he's still playing some form of the game, is relatively fit and just the sheer presence of the man would give the team a boost and strike terror into the hearts of the Poms.  :D
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1364 on: December 12, 2010, 10:21:36 PM »
Latest news on Shane Warne - having an affair with Liz Hurley. 

It's a good thing he can bowl well is all I will say about Warnie.  And, Yes, they should bring him back onto the team. 
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1365 on: December 13, 2010, 05:05:23 PM »
Rose: I'll look for it! I'd love cricket lessons.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1366 on: December 13, 2010, 09:30:10 PM »
My pleasure!
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1367 on: December 19, 2010, 03:10:40 PM »

Here I am, back with a new quiz and sincere apologies for the long interval.   Mea maxima culpa.
Time was when I had no problem tackling any number of tasks simultaneously - long before the term "multi-tasking" had been coined.  But age and arthritis have slowed me dow.

Author :  A novelist, playwright and critic, known for his boundless range of knowledge and his marvelously entertaining stories.

The Book :  The subject  is the cultural life of a city.

Characters : There are several major characters in addition to the chief narrator, who tells interesting stories.                                                                                                                                                                               

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1368 on: December 19, 2010, 05:00:42 PM »
Hmmmm

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1369 on: December 19, 2010, 05:11:22 PM »
JoanK,  easy does it.  Twentieth century.  Author no longer with us.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1370 on: December 19, 2010, 10:02:26 PM »
My senior moments are now extending into senior hours.  It is on the tip of my fingers/tongue but my recall button needs a service.  Someone Maupin?  Amistead Maupin (spelling)?  Can't remember the book though.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1371 on: December 20, 2010, 02:49:48 AM »
Roshanarose - that is who I thought of, but I think Maupin is very much with us.  (The book I think you are thinking of is Tales of the City - oen of my favourites).

Rosemary

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1372 on: December 20, 2010, 02:53:13 AM »
I thought of Gore Vidal, but I think he too is still alive and kicking - isn't he?

R

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1373 on: December 20, 2010, 08:42:56 AM »
T. S. Eliot was pretty versatile, but I can't think of anything he might of written about the culture of a city.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1374 on: December 20, 2010, 11:01:38 AM »
Very interesting guesses.  But we are not on the same track exactly, yet.

Here are more clues.

The declared subject of the book is life in a large city before and after WW II.
The narrator believes that, in order to understand the cultural history of a great city, it is necessary to look at the lives of those who created it. And that he does,  spupremely well, most richly his own.





roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1375 on: December 20, 2010, 07:27:11 PM »
Berlin?
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1376 on: December 20, 2010, 08:02:10 PM »
This is intriguing.  I can't think what it is, but have a feeling I'll kick myself when someone else gets it.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1377 on: December 20, 2010, 09:02:25 PM »
Roshanarose, Sorry, not Berlin.

PatH,   Actually, I chose the book with you in mind. 
You mentioned the book and the author before and again, recently.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1378 on: December 21, 2010, 10:25:32 AM »
New clues

The author was popular and has been called the finest " man of letters" of his country, a term he detested. 

The book was the author's last.

The chief narrator in the book is a brilliant diagnostician.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1379 on: December 21, 2010, 05:16:17 PM »
PatH is traveling, so may be slow to answer your challange.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1380 on: December 22, 2010, 12:13:39 AM »
I'd answer the challenge if I could - Gore Vidal was the one who came in to my mind. I think I need to read the clues 'between the lines'
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1381 on: December 22, 2010, 03:31:08 PM »
Gumtree,  Everyone,

Truly, I did not set out to find a diabolically complicated challenge -  quite the opposite is true. I was looking for something "lighter" and more optimistic f than Zola, Dostoevesky and Coetzee.
The book I chose has been  "under the radar" here again, recently and, I thought, might be the right candidate.  

As I said before, it is the last book the author wrote.  It was his first book for me.  And  I was in my glory -  so much so that I went back and read all his novels in  chronological order.

As I also said before,  he is considered the finest man of letter of his country.  

Around the time the author died, I was an enthusiastic listener to an exceptional (I thought) Boston radio call-in talk show, which I tried never to miss.  That ended on the day a caller  lamented  the recent passing of the author ---  and the talk show host - caught unawares and sounding bored (that's my recall ) -  said  he'd never read any book by this author before.  

If there's one word to best describes the author and his work,  it 's learned.  
He was steeped in the entire canon of western civilization beginning with the Greeks, but never boring or pretentious, never sermonized.  He had a wonderful feel for Shakesspeare. And yes, he also taught.
Thank you for your insightful guesses and don't forget the breath of this continent.

JoanK,  my thoughts are with PatH. I hope she's safe, on schedule, and not stranded on a highway,  or an airport.

Gumtree,  your summer was rudely interrupted by snow,  I saw,  in a province north of Perth, and also in the east of the continent.  
Be well, be safe, everyone !

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1382 on: December 22, 2010, 05:26:40 PM »
I'm safe and sound in Portland, OR, enjoying the company of some of my favorite people, with nothing bad about the trip except the obscene hour I had to get up to catch my plane.

Traude, I didn't even need your latest set of clues to get it, though I had forgotten the character's name and had to look it up.

Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man, Dr. Jonathan Hullah.

I'm glad the book inspired you to read all of Davies' work; it's not one of my favorites compared to some of the others.

Of course now I'm IT (sigh).

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1383 on: December 22, 2010, 06:25:31 PM »
I never heard of Robertson Davies. The only book title I recognize is The Manticore.

Glad you made it to Portland in good shape, PatH.

roshanarose

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1384 on: December 22, 2010, 08:11:22 PM »
Traude - I haven't heard of the book before.  I looked up the Manticore on Wiki and what a strange and terrible creature it it.  I look forward to reading a book that models its protagonist around such a beast, albeit in Jungian mode.

"The manticore (Early Middle Persian Martyaxwar; Βάρἰκος Baricos in Greek) is a legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. It has the body of a red lion, a human head with three rows of sharp teeth (like a shark), and a trumpet-like voice. Other aspects of the creature vary from story to story. It may be horned, winged, or both. The tail is that of either a dragon or a scorpion, and it may shoot poisonous spines to either paralyze or kill its victims. It devours its prey whole. It leaves no clothes, bones, or possessions of the prey behind. During the early centuries, it was often believed that when a person would go missing, it was evidence that it was caused by a manticore and that manticore were real. The creature's feet may be those of a dragon, but are most often described as the paws of a lion. Its size ranges from the size of a lion to the size of a horse. It is also mistaken as a bearded man when seen from a distance."

How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?  - Plato

Frybabe

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1385 on: December 22, 2010, 09:19:32 PM »
That's very interesting Roshanarose. I hadn't realized it was a mythic beast of some kind. Along with the Jungian influence, it certainly makes the book sound more intriguing. It is the second book of a trilogy.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1386 on: December 22, 2010, 10:36:15 PM »
Trust PatH to get it

Traude How clever of you to choose Robertson Davies. And yes, as you said, we had spoken of him recently albeit briefly. I've read some of his work but certainly not all.

I have to say that any reports of snow falling north of Perth are totally erroneous - true, there is serious flooding in the north of our state with considerable damage to crops, stock and historic homesteads but no snow!

On the other hand snow has fallen in the Snowy Mountains in the east of the continent - it's not much but ski resorts are happy to have a little extra business. There is also major flooding in eastern states as well.
However in Perth it is extremely hot and dry and looks likely to remain so for the next three or four months.

My best Christmas present is due to arrive this evening in the form on my second son who is coming to celebrate Christmas with us. He lives in Sydney so we don't see him as often as we would like.

 

Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1387 on: December 23, 2010, 02:04:39 AM »
Frybabe, although the Manticore is the second of a trilogy, it happens to be the first Davies book I read, and it worked out OK to read it that way.  The heart of it is the Jungian analysis of the protagonist, during which he tells his story.  The first, Fifth Business, and third, World of Wonders, cover a mostly overlapping time frame and many of the same characters, but from different points of view.  The third should definitely be read last, and is also, IMHO, the least of them.

I've been busy with a grandchild today, but will try to come up with something promptly.

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1388 on: December 23, 2010, 08:37:01 PM »
PatH,  I'm glad to hear you arrived safe and sound at your destination.

Yes,  that's what we were after : The Cunning Man, Dr.  Jonathan Hullah,  the narrator and holistic physician, and Robertson Davies, the eminent Canadian man of letters.  The city is Toronto.

Robertson Davies was born into a family of voracious readers, the father served as a senator and was a newspaper man. Eventually father and son worked together in that trade. The son attended Trinity College at the University of Toronto and his thesis was about Shakespeare and young actors. He and his young wife moved to England and he studied at Oxford.
Robertson's own first two plays were well received and brought rewards. But his novels were to have a much broader  impact.

The first novel Tempest Tost, 1951, (a light, funny tale of an amateur group trying to produce Shakespeare's Tempest), was followed by Leaven of Malice, 1954, and A Mixture of Frailties, 1958. It was his first trilogy known as The Salterton Trilogy .
I do not regret going all the way back fromThe Cunning Man to the "beginnings", so to speak,  which was an exhilarating exercise.

Robertson's father died in 1967 and not long after he began writing Fifth Business, 1970; The Manticore,  1972; World of Wonders, 1975, known as The Deptford Trilogy after the little town where it all began.  A deceptively simple story with unpredictable, irrevocable, irremediable consequences: a rock hidden in a snowball hits a pregnant woman ...

In the following decade Robertson wrote The Rebel Agels, 1981; What's Bred int he Bone , 1985;  and The Lyre of Orpheus, 1988, known as The Cornish Trilogy.[/b].

While The Cunning Man published in 1994,  'stands alone',  there is speculation that Robertson Davies was planning a Toronto Trilogy, because The Cunning Man was preceded by Murther and Walking Spirits,  1991 and features some of the same characters.  

What intriguing titles !!! For those who'd like to take a glimpse, Tempest Tost might ne a sampler.  I agree that the Jungian theories/archetypes are most fully featured in The Manticore but, if read alone, without volumes 1 and 3,  may not be as clear and meaningful in the context of the story, which is spread over years.

Yes, myths and magic, hagiography, miraculous cureswere some of the subjects in the novels of Robertson Davies, none better to stimulate thought.  There's an excellent reference  Robertson Davies, Man of Myth, , a biography by Judith Skelton-Grant, a  heavy all-encompassing tome.
Gumtree, is it already Chrismas Evein Australia ? Oh my,  I'm still a long way from completing important element of dinner ...

If you see typos, lease ignore. Thank you.
In haste. T




 

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1389 on: December 24, 2010, 10:03:45 AM »
Yesm Traude! Christmas Eve indeed - it is actually 11pm and I'm soon off to bed - whatever is not done will now remain undone.... My son arrived OK and in the best of spirits. We all had a wonderful dinner last night - enjoyed ourselves so much that our party was the last to leave the restaurant.

Best wishes to all for a happy, safe and peaceful Christmas
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1390 on: December 29, 2010, 07:53:44 PM »
I'm back home now, safe, but with a horrible cold.  It was worth it though.  we had a really happy Christmas.

I hesitate to start a new one, since my computer is acting up, but here goes.

Author: My writing life began under difficulties.

Character: My early childhood was quite bleak.

Book: A bestseller.

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1391 on: December 30, 2010, 03:08:01 AM »
Complete stab in the dark:

I Capture The Castle - Dodie Smith?  (The narrator starts the book "with my feet in the kitchen sink", or something like that!)

Rosemary

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1392 on: December 30, 2010, 07:36:34 AM »
Sounds like an interesting book, rosemarykaye, but it's not it.

JoanK

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1393 on: December 30, 2010, 03:12:11 PM »
ROSEMARY: does he tell you where the rest of him is?

straudetwo

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1394 on: December 30, 2010, 05:58:32 PM »
To begin "narrowing down the field", we need to know a little more. Please.

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1395 on: December 30, 2010, 07:12:19 PM »
Certainly you need to know more.

Author: I drew on a lot of traditional lore from the past.

Character: I was much happier when I discovered my abilities.

Book: Has been made into a movie.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1396 on: December 30, 2010, 09:36:00 PM »
Is Pat talking about J R R Tolkien and one of his books?
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

PatH

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1397 on: December 30, 2010, 10:30:06 PM »
Good guess, but no.

Gumtree

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1398 on: December 31, 2010, 11:12:54 AM »
Well , I didn't really think it would be the one...

Happy New Year!
Reading is an art and the reader an artist. Holbrook Jackson

rosemarykaye

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Re: Author! Author!
« Reply #1399 on: December 31, 2010, 11:47:06 AM »
The Ugly Duckling?   :)

Rosemary